A unique identifier, usually a number and sometimes the company's DUNS number, assigned by a Customer for the Vendor it buys from. Example; a Grocery Store Chain buys Oreo's from Nabisco. The Grocery Store Chain , for accounting purposes, identifies Nabisco as Vendor #76091. One company can have multiple vendor codes. Example; Welch's Foods sells many different products. Frozen grape juice concentrate, chilled grape juice, bottled grape juice, and grape jelly. Because each of these items is a different type of product, frozen food, chilled food, beverages, dry food, they may have a different buyer at the Grocery Store Chain , requiring a different vendor code for each product line.